Of all of the bees out there in the world, I get the RETARD! I planted 20 strawberry sets and 10 of them have at least 1 blossom and this guy decieds to land on one without any blossoms to check out! :banghead:
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Of all of the bees out there in the world, I get the RETARD! I planted 20 strawberry sets and 10 of them have at least 1 blossom and this guy decieds to land on one without any blossoms to check out! :banghead:
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Hard to tell but is that a Wasp?
I had a Bumble bee today fly in and check out the hive I was setting up. I am thinking he/she smelled the wax. A couple of ants also.
Maybe it wasn't the best choice to set things up a few days a head of time.:shrug:
It's a D.E.A. Drone Bee,,, sent to make sure you were planting strawberries & not some Mary Jane. ;)
It's not a wasp/at least not one like I'm familiar with as those damn things are always building a nest in something and when I open it up BUZZZZ,
This little guy isn't built like a wasp/more like a bee but he and the others that are out there are more a 'black' instead of a pronounced black and yellow. And they are quite small. Oh well/What do I know? :shrug:
Since it's legal to grow for qualified medical use here in WA State; I could just go ahead and grow it and tell the law that it's for my brother as he is certified to use Mary Jane for his medical condition. hehehe it's been damn near 40 years since I partook of the Devil's Weed. Probably a good thing, the neighbors got tired of finding me naked on top of their barn roofs crowing at daybreak. :w
Don't Laugh!!!! There is ACTUALLY a company called Walla Walla Weedery!!! :banghead:
https://www.leafly.com/dispensary-in...-walla-weedery
But from what I see this isn't grown in the Walla Walla Soil......
Oh yea, there are growers here in the valley. Both licensed and the 'Others'/like the guy who lives next door to my oldest daughter. :w
Walla Walla Weedery isn't the only outlet. I find it interesting that the company that I recently retired from will fire an employee if they test positive for pot even if they are using with a Drs. Prescription because it's still Federally banned.
Uh, weren't we talking about bees? :hmmm:
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:rofl2: :rofl2: :rofl2: :rofl2:
I wonder how fast the truck went. I woke up this morning to a mail that the bees are here.
Pictures of how I spent my early afternoon.
Buzzing in the back of my truck
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The box's are ready to go.
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Dump them in.
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spread them around so they don't get squished
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All done except to put the bricks back on top
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Good luck with the bee keeping.
Good luck, Tim.
What do you feed them?
On the top of the box in the pictures you can see an orange colored square. That is 1/2 of a pollen patty and that should get them through about a week. It is my understanding that that gives them protein... [I am still learning!]
The top boxes you can see are still empty except for the white 1 gallon pail. You can feed sugar water but it is a mess to mix etc. so I chose to go with a product called Prosweet. It has not only sucrose but glucose fructose etc. that is suppose to imitate honey better. AND it is easy! :shrug:
Many things for me to learn yet but I have been told that you have to be careful about feeding them the syrup to early because they think that the flowers are blooming and start laying eggs etc...
Here is basically what I did except I didn't block the entrance because I can't make it back for about a week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVW8CErDpjQ
"Don't want to impale the Queen with my nail.", he said,,,,,,,,,,,, :roflmao
,,,,,yes, I know that was juvenile...
You can roast them over a BIC lighter , with a toothpick. :beer2:
OMG you have it! :tu
when I got done I sat on the tailgate of my truck about 15 yards away from the hives. It is a quiet valley and most of them were still sugar coated and with a restricted entrance to the hives but it was amazing to me the sound that they made.......
That video was pretty wicked cool!
I learned something new today......
Hopefully one day I'll be able to have my own hives.
Please make follow-up videos as the hives progress!! Eager to see the rest of the story.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I have to ask, how are they around power equipment like a mower?
They don't like power equipment at all!!! I put my hives on concrete blocks and then 4 16" pavers in the front that way the mower doesn't get too close. Buy the italian bees, far more docile than the carolians, they are Russian and get quite pissy. They also are prolific propolis producers(bee glue) and it can get very difficult to unstick the box and the frames, very hard to manipulate.
In the town I live bees are against code, but who cares, in Missouri it is against state law to destroy a hive. Use common sense when placing a hive and be generous with your neighbors and everyone will get along. So glad to see Glen taking such a keen interest. Buddy you are going to love it.
My grandfathers bees produced a very dark honey, almost black, I LOVED IT! Very earthy flavors compared to average honey that is just sweet but no real flavor.
I have heard both ways with mowers by hives. Stay a few feet away and don't spit the grass at the hive and you will be ok is the average thought.
I have seen many put an old piece of tin inn front on the ground but where I have mine there are rattle snakes and I am not going to make anywhere for them to hide....
I am thinking that the bees will be a good excuse to use my scythe that I bought to learn how to sharpen it!
I finally got to check my hives today and they are all still there.
They ate much less food than I thought they would. I gave them 1 gallon of Prosweet and 1/2 of a pollen patty and they hadn't gone through half of that. They could have easily have made it 2 weeks but I refilled them anyway.
One of the queen cages had fallen to the bottom and when I dug it out to make sure the queen got out I saw that queen.
It was recommended to check the queen cage the next day but I had to leave it a week. That left a large space between two frames and the comb is plenty thick in that area.
They have about 3 frames of comb drawn out although not even on each one.
By the time I had the smoker running well I was done...:D
I have to get my system worked out but it went fine.
No pictures because I thought about a camera 5 miles away from home...:gaah:
I would feel comfortable now not checking them for two weeks but I want to get back to see if the Morels have come out by then.
No stings yet!
Which one of these am I seeing????
I hope my brood are centered. LOL
Brood Comb – Photos | Talking With Bees
randydance062449 called today out of the blue and asked if I was interested in a book on beekeeping. Of course I was! Only 35 pages left but time to go to bed.:(
Thanks Randy
No reading this evening, checking this out.
Extension: Bee College - Honey Bee Research & Extension Lab (HBREL) - University of Florida Entomology & Nematology Department
There is a lot involved in this bee business. I would have never thought there were so many issues.
Hmmm, now I have to schedule a razor meet in October so I can get some of that honey ! I will make the pancakes! :)
I have to come over and check out your hives sometime. It looks interesting and is not a long drive for me.
Howard Clark makes mead. Talk with him in May at his razor meet.
No only 3 miles! I will be picking Howard's brain on that myself cause I have honey to experiment with too. Oh and he makes some real fine beer I hear. Tc
Question for all of you who keep bees. At what point in the spring/summer is honey available? I need to contact my local guy on getting a supply but I doubt that there is any honey to be had in April.
My mother used to keep bees and from what I remember she never harvested until about late summer. Honey needs some time to mature from what I recall. i'm sure there are advanced techniques to speed this up but I'm just going by what she did with 4 hives in the back yard. Kind of a pain in the butt raising bees there are so many things you have to do to keep the colony thriving protection from racoons, bears not to mention the insipid Veroa Mite which destroyed all of her colony's. Swarming is another headache. I recall she had to retrieve a swarm from the neighbors house. But she loved it and it kept her busy as a bee.
My bees will have been in 2 weeks tomorrow. I checked them again today.
I know more of what to look for now and they have capped brood and others that are smaller yet. I did not see the queens or look close for them but by the brood they are there and accepted.
They ate a little more of the feed this week but it has been colder and they have not been getting out of the hive as much. I filled the feeder pails but did not add anymore pollen patties because they had plenty left yet.
The clusters are about 5 frames wide.
I remembered the camera but got my hands all full of syrup and would rather face the wrath of Hirlau than the wrath of my wife if I got her good camera all sticky! I did get a couple of fun pictures on the way there though. I got stopped by the draw bridge at the mouth of the St Croix river where it meets the Mississippi. It doesn't raise very often. What I thought was interesting is that they had to raise the bridge so another bridge could go underneath... Also in one of the pictures is the train bridge next to the roadway. They are building a new bridge at Stillwater and making sections at a remote site.
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I loved walking around Stillwater. Scored a great G. Rogers there.
There was an Amish stand at the Annandale flea market. They always had great honey. It was a bit dark but the flavor was fantastic. Also, it did not give me heartburn like the stuff in the grocery.